We’re at the tail end of summer 2017, and a few things are on my mind. The total eclipse has passed, the number of and intensity of Western forest wild fires have been alarming, the number of hot days has been greater, and then there is the devastation of Hurricane Harvey.
The eclipse path of totality was only about 50 miles from my home, but I chose to see it from my own fields and just sit and watch the process from an hour before and an hour after. Even without the onset of total darkness and a stunning sight of seeing a corona that one sees with 100% totality, I was bathed in the 99.3% eclipse. It was a powerful and rewarding reminder of the life giving force of our sun. Clearly, we would not be here without it’s heat, it’s light, it’s forces.
I feel a bit guilty for enjoying this extended rain free summer here in Western Oregon. While I am enjoying the summer warmth with the help of the ocean, rivers and lakes and swimming pools…. I am mindful of the hardship it brings to the forest and all life within that forest. It reminds me to be the best steward of the earth I can possibly be while balancing a modern urban work life with country living. I strive to increase my stewardship of the extraordinariness of nature. The healing power of nature is a core fundamental principle of naturopathic medicine. It is most often interpreted to mean that within each of us, there is the healing power of nature, aka the Vis Medicatrix Naturae, and the strategies of healing acute and chronic illness is to remove obstacles to this 
healing power and to use therapies that enhance the ability of the body to health itself. While this sounds admirable, it is not always possible. And I find it more helpful and holistic and realistic to understand this principle in light of what is likely actually possible for that person and their medical situation. In doing so, the healing power of nature, to me, also means: the healing power of being in and with and connected to nature, the healing power of using medicines of nature, and knowing one’s true nature. This is part of my personal life, and a part of my doctoring with patients. In being better stewards of nature, we are inherently better stewards of our own health.
And lastly, the sad and life changing results of Hurricane Harvey- to people, animals, natural landscape, infrastructure, homes and livelihoods. Yet one more example of a hurricane, tornado, flood, wild fire and drought….. this should at the very least, cause us to be better stewards of mother earth.
